Video Store Escapade
by hedgehog117
Summary: Castiel attempts to become closer to Dean using the most available medium. A/N:This is unbeta'ed, any mistakes my own. Comment and critique welcome.


Castiel sat in the passenger seat, glancing conspicuously at Dean and ruminating over how to cheer him up. As always, things had been hard, and Dean was exhausted and temperamental. Normally, Castiel wouldn't or couldn't think of anything to lighten the mood. But, as of late, Castiel was noticing that human 'friendship' consisted of more than what usually occurred between Cas and Dean.

Through his observations, Castiel had noticed human pairs attending the movies. Dean had commented on multiple occasions that Castiel's popular culture knowledge was lacking.

"Oh," Castiel exclaimed, or thought he had, although exclamations from humans and angels are very different things.

"Forget something?" Dean asked, perplexed at the outburst.

"No," the angel had further noted the importance of surprises, "What is your favorite movie?" Of course, all of his observations had not taught the Angel of Thursday how to extract information stealthily. That was a Castiel thing, not an angel thing, and resisted all attempts of reparation.

"Ah, well..." What followed was a detailed explanation of _all _of Dean's favorite movies. The man rattled off titles: Lord of the Rings, Wrath of Khan, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, The Godfather, Monty Python, and many more. It lasted long enough for Castiel to regret the question, although he managed to grasp one title among the onslaught.

A couple days and four states later, Dean and Sam were off on a hunt while Cas stayed behind for some forced R &R. An hour after the Impala had roared out of the parking lot of the motel, Cas strode up to the front desk, attempting to keep a "low profile" as Dean had suggested.

The aged, wiry man behind the counter glanced up from his paper. "Isn't it a little warm for that?" he asked, gesturing towards Castiel's sweater, which had little kittens on it. The strange article of clothing had been retrieved from the back seat of the Impala, presumably left by some previous amorous acquaintance of Dean's. Sam had given it to Castiel in order to replace his trench coat, commandeered by Dean on the grounds that it was too conspicuous (Castiel put it on in the belief that Sam knew what he was talking about and was advising Castiel wisely. He had not understood the joke).

"I am sensitive to the cold."

"Must be pretty sensitive, it's gotta be eighty degrees out there."

"Yes," Castiel replied, straight faced.

"Whaddya need?" the manager asked after a decidedly awkward pause.

"Can you direct me to the nearest video store?"

The manager raised an eyebrow at him, "Well depends on the type of videos you're lookin' for." Castiel gazed at him, confused. Finally, the man sighed and scribbled down an address, "This one here is closest, on Main Street. They got everything."

Castiel wandered into the shop, unsure of what he was doing. The shelves seemed to be arranged by genre, but Cas couldn't figure out the genre that the movie Dean had described belonged to. Religion? Action? Romance? Deciding to stick to his previous tactic, he asked the clerk. The pimply teen gazed at him expectantly.

"I need to rent a movie for my friend, it's called..." Castiel realized he couldn't remember the name. Thousands of years of knowledge and a simple title escaped his memory. He really had fallen. "The movie is about a man, with a whip...and a girl..." Castiel struggled to fish more information from his memory. Unfortunately, he had not been paying rapt attention to Dean after the first few movie summaries had rolled off his tongue.

Mistaking Castiel's hesitance for embarrassment, the clerk's face lit up with understanding. "Oh well, that would be over there," he indicated the dark, musty corner of the store. "Unless...are you talking about the actual movie?" He sighed at Castiel's look of confusion. Castiel didn't understand why people reacted this way to him. "Who are you getting this for? A friend or, you know, a _friend_?" The man gazed meaningfully at Castiel's sweater.

"A friend of mine that I wish to get closer to. I decided it would be best to get him his favorite movie."

The boy seemed to be holding back laughter, "Hold on, I'll grab you both." A few moments later he returned carrying two discs. "Okay, which one do you want?"

Castiel looked at the options. One did seem to be the correct movie, but the other was another type of movie Dean may be interested in, the cover showing a scantily clad woman. He looked helplessly at the clerk. "Both?"

"Okay, you got an address?"

"I'm staying at the motel, the Nite Owl."

"That's fine; just give these to the manager, Harry, before you check out. Have a nice day," as Castiel exited the store, he heard the clerk burst into laughter. Castiel, once again, had missed the joke.

Castiel returned to the motel room, but found his loot sadly inadequate. He was sure that more was required for a movie night. Castiel decided to ask Harry again, as the man had helped Castiel before. He picked up the phone and dialed the front desk.

"Hallo, you again, huh? How can I help you?"

"What does one need for a 'special movie night?'" Castiel inflected the air quotes around the phrase, hoping to intimate his confusion of the term. The manager hesitated.

"I thought that you checked in with that other man...Oh. Right, well..."

Castiel left the room with two more addresses, deciding to head to the supermarket first for the food.

The first stop had gone without too many problems. When Cas had handed over the money for payment, the cashier had started stammering that it was too much, returning a number of the bills plus change. However, the second store was completely befuddling Castiel. He was surrounded with leather, rubber, piercings, and a number of objects that Castiel doubted should be on public display. He was sure there was nothing here for Dean and him. But Harry had not steered him wrong yet. Castiel wandered once again up to the sales desk of an unfamiliar store...

Back at the apartment, Castiel unloaded his groceries onto the table, finally satisfied with the quantity of objects. The day had worn out his increasingly weak body. Eyelids drooping, he collapsed on the bed for a short rest before the Winchesters returned.

He awoke to Sam's guffaws and Dean looking very, very bewildered. Castiel sat up, "I thought we could have a movie night."

Sam shot a final look at the myriad of...recreational objects and movies strewn across the table and raced out, shouting only 'good luck!' before starting the car.

"Cas...uh..." Dean was blushing, an uncommon occurrence. "Do you know what _that_ is?" He pointed at the Spencer's bag, rubbing the back of his neck and avoiding Cas's eye, contemplating the prospect of explaining the object to an angel.

"Not...exactly. The cashier said it was useful for a movie night with a close friend."

Dean let out a short, tight laugh and picked up the DVDs. The disk with the suggestive cover made Dean groan in defeat. "Cas...we're not...I mean..." Dean trailed off, gazing at Castiel strangely. "Oh, screw it."

He strode over to Castiel and kissed him full on the mouth.

Moments later, Castiel disentangled himself long enough to breathe, "What about the movies?"

Dean pushed Castiel down onto the couch. "Later," he mumbled.

Castiel felt a flush of disappointment that all his efforts had not resulted in the night he planned, but as Dean pressed against him, he quickly decide that this was a much better, if unexpected, outcome.


End file.
